Sabbat
concern in a Sabbat town; inevitably one such would become an Antitribu Ventrue enterprise in alliance with the Tzimisce. The Tzimisce's concern with Fleshcrafting is doubtless the primary reason for the corpses hung like dry cleaning conveyed through the factory]] Vukodlak the Tzimisce Antediluvian (literally, before the Flood, as the Book of Nod declares such grandchilder of Caine were begotten in the First City of Enoch) is the ultimate villain in Redemption, and even mentioned in the Leaves of Three Backstory; despite his state of torpor, all the forces of the Sabbat are at his command, through the Tzimisce. Leaves of Three also shows the Ventrue in New York City infested with Antitribu under Count Orsi, with his Orsi International, and the traitor Dominic scheming for more power in the Camarilla hierarchy. This is a very different Sabbat to the one normally ruling New York City, which stylistically is nothing but a lawless Camarilla adversary, making it a Camarilla vampire's East Coast version of the West Coast's Anarch Free State. The Underprince in the Nosferatu Sewers is definitely Sabbat, but it is not apparent that he is in league with Vukodlak. There are more than a couple of heresies in V:tM-R, and one of them is surely its attitude to Sabbat. The world was about to change very much in the years after its release, and even the White Wolf that had brought so much of the street to the bookstore turned tail and fled before the tide of guilt and flag waving. The Anarchs disappeared, the Camarilla reigned as if nothing had ever preceeded it, and the Sabbat? Certainly there were few heroes of the Sabbat then, if ever, but the New York of this tale is full of Sabbat, villains as usual and heroes as never before or since. Bloodlines may have the modern day streetwise attitude down, but is its politics really this far onto the front line? Catherine Weiss and Wilhem Streicher seem unlikely candidates, and we may not agree, but the reasoning is good. The Camarilla is brutal and corrupt, as Lo3 shows, and Catherine and Wilhem have avoided their Iron Maiden's embrace and the Sabbat's grasp also, it seems. Sabbat running guns and drugs from London to New York City]] During the time of Christof's torpor from the Dark Ages to modern days Ecaterina and the Prometheans have eventually joined the Sabbat, for one reason: intolerable rules. Prometheans lived alongside humans, neither above them as the Sabbat wants, nor hiding from them as the Camarilla's Masquerade wants. Of the two, the only way that allows living as a Promethean is the Sabbat. Of course, not all Sabbat have anything to do with Ecaterina's and Wilhem's Promethean ideals. In many cases, quite the contrary. The Sabbat tend to disdain the Masquerade and mortals along with it, and more so than other vampires, may see mortals as Kine, simple cattle for vampires to feed upon. For the Prometheans, though, the Masquerade is equally intolerable as there can never be vampires living in harmony with mortals if the mortals are not to know there are vampires. Such a life is a lie; Prometheans wished to bring mortals wisdom, not ignorance. The presentation of the issue thus far, and in Redemption generally, puts the cart before the horse. It presents a choice of two evils: Sabbat or Camarilla, because of Camarilla excesses, and utterly ignores the Anarchs which were the first and only unequivocally good choice. In fact the Camarilla's rules, which Prometheans rejected, preceeded the creation of the Camarilla. The Anarch's rejection of bad rules and behaviour of their elders were the basis of the Anarch Revolt, and the Camarilla was merely a reaction to Anarchs. The First Anarch Revolt was spurred on during the days of the Inquisition. Vampire neonates were appalled by their clan elders who were eagerly sacrificing their young to the Inquisitors. The neonates were perishing at alarming rates during this period. As the battles of the Anarch Revolt intensified, however, so too did the efforts of the Inquisition, and the pressure of twin assaults led directly to the creation of the Camarilla. The Anarch Revolt continued for seven years after the Camarilla's formation, but the Anarchs were outnumbered and outmatched, and, after suffering heavy losses, their rebellion formally ended with the Convention of Thorns in 1493. Most of the remaining Anarchs joined the Camarilla, but those who did not, mostly the Lasombra and Tzimisce, went on to form the Sabbat. Catherine and Wilhem are Brujah who did the same thing. and the Tremere and their Masquerade; their Camarilla"]] The Camarilla is, to those that transgress its edicts or get in the way of its power, easily as brutal and even sadistic a regime as the Sabbat. For elder vampires who are strong enough to avoid its chaotic excesses, the Sabbat is only less intrusive. Vampire the Masquerade tabletop and LARP canon merges almost seamlessly with Redemption in many respects. New York was spiked with Sabbat soldiers and run by Sabbat until late in 1999, when they were largely swept away in the Battle of New York City. Vukodlak's disciples, flunkies and associates were then the only Sabbat remaining, leaving much fewer to interfere with Christof's assault on Vukodlak's stronghold. At the same time, since no Camarilla knew of Christof's arrival or Vukodlak's plans, the canon gives no lie to Redemption's epic of world-saving demonslaying. The Sabbat that turned Samuel's coterie and tried to kill him would seem to be either an exception, an inconsistency, or as seems quite likely, actually part of Vukodlak's army of Sabbat. Dev/Null gives the player a couple of insights into the presence of Antitribu with his "aunties" and "'at's a mite" comments: Sabbat are "Anti"-Tribu, and Assamites that are not blood cursed and so can attack vampires are Assamite Antitribu. A Canon Cathedral of Flesh in New York City, though, is only one, and one of the less popular, versions of its story, leading some to speculate that Vukodlak's Cathedral of Flesh is not the same as the entity given horrid birth in the Carpathian Mountains before the Dark Ages. Category:Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption Category:Sabbat Category:Jyhad